Terminology
Eclipse Phase uses a variety of jargon to simply convey the numerous concepts covered within the pages of this book. While not all-inclusive, this list of terminology will allow players to quickly acclimate themselves for their journey into the world of Eclipse Phase. If you read something and are confused, don’t worry. These concepts are fully explained in later sections of this book. Note that several of the words on this list are standard scientific terms, often used in astronomy. The writes of Eclipse Phase attempted to remain as close to “hard science” as possible — while still allowing players to interact with the great stories waiting to unfold — so such terms are used liberally. A Aerostat A habitat designed to float like a balloon in a planet’s upper atmosphere. AF After the Fall (used for reference dating). Also see The Fall. AGI Artificial General Intelligence. An AI that has cognitive faculties comparable to that of a human or higher. Also known as “strong AI” (differentiating from more specialized “weak AI”). Also see seed AI. AI Artificial Intelligence. Generally used to refer to weak AIs; i.e., AIs that do not encompass (or in some cases, are completely outside of) the full range of human cognitive abilities. AIs differ from AGIs in that they are usually specialized and/or intentionally crippled/limited. Anarchist Someone who believes government is unnecessary, that power corrupts, and that people should control their own lives through self-organized individual and collective action. Arachnoid (Morph)|Arachnoid A spider-like robotic synthmorph. Argonauts A faction of techno-progressive scientists that promote responsible and ethical use of technology. AR Augmented Reality. Information from the mesh (universal data network) that is overlaid on your real-world senses. AR data is usually entoptic (visual), but can also be audio, tactile, olfactory, kinesthetic (body awareness), emotional, or other types of input. Async A person with psi abilities. AU Astronomical Unit. The distance between the Earth and the Sun, equal to 8.3 light minutes, or about 150 million kilometers. Autonomists The alliance of anarchists, Barsoomians, Extropians, scum, and Titanians. B Barsoomian A rural Martian, typically resentful of hypercorp control. Basilisk Hack An image or other sensory input that affects the brain’s visual cortex and pattern recognition abilities in such a way as to cause a glitch and possibly exploit it and rewrite neural code. Beehive A microgravity habitat made from a tunneled-out asteroid or moon. BF Before the Fall (used for reference dating). Also see The Fall. Bioconservative An anti-technology movement that argues for strict regulation of nanofabrication, AI, uploading, forking, cognitive enhancements, and other disruptive technologies. Biomorph A biological body, whether a flat, splicer, genetically engineered transhuman, or pod. Body Bank A service for leasing, selling, acquiring, or storing a morph. AKA dollhouse, morgue. Bots Robots. AI-piloted synthetic shells. Bracewell Probe A type of autonomous monitoring deep-space probe meant to make contact with alien civilizations. Brinkers Exiles who live on the fringes of the system, as well as other isolated and well-hidden nooks and crannies. Also called isolates, fringers, drifters. C Case A cheap, common, mass-produced synthetic shell. Chimeric Transgenic, containing genetic traits from other species. Circum- Astronomical term used to indicate an object that orbits another. Such as Circumjovian, circumlunar and circumsolar which indicate that the described object orbits Jupiter, the moon and the sun respectively. Cislunar Between the Earth and the Moon. Clade A species or group of organisms with common features. Used to refer to transhuman subspecies and morph types. Cole Bubble A habitat made from a hollowed-out asteroid or moon, spun for gravity. Cornucopia Machine A general-purpose nanofabricator. Cortical Stack (Augmentation)|Cortical Stack An implanted memory cell used for ego backup. Located where the spine meets the skull; can be cut out. Cyberbrain (Augmentation)|Cyberbrain An artificial brain, housing an ego run in a software brain-state. Used in both synthmorphs and pods. D Darkcast Illegal and black market farcasting and egocasting services. Domain Rules The rules that govern the reality of a virtual reality simulspace. Drone A robot controlled through teleoperation (rather than directly via on-board AI). E Ecto Personal mesh devices that are flexible, stretchable, self-cleaning, translucent, and solar-powered. From ectolink (external link). Ego The part of you that switches from body to body. AKA ghost, soul, essence, spirit, persona. Egocasting Term for sending egos via farcasting. Entoptics Augmented-reality images that you “see” in your head. (“Entoptic” means “within the eye.”) ETI Extraterrestial Intelligence. The term Firewall uses to refer to the god-like post-singularity alien intelligence theorized to be responsible for the Exsurgent virus. Exalt (Morph)|Exalts Genetically enhanced humans (between genefixed and transhumans). AKA genefreaks, ascended, elevated. Exoplanet A planet in another solar system. Exsurgent Someone infected by the Exsurgent virus. Exsurgent Virus The multi-vector virus created by an unknown ETI and seeded throughout the galaxy in Bracewell probes. The Exsurgent virus is self-morphing and can infect both computer systems and biological creatures. Extrasolar Outside the solar system. F Factors The alien ambassadorial race that deals with transhumanity. Also called Brokers. The Fall The apocalypse; the singularity and wars that nearly brought about the downfall of transhumanity. Farcasting Intrasolar communication utilizing classical communication technologies (radio, laser, etc.) and quantum teleportation. Farhauler Long-distance space shipper. Firewall The secret cross-faction conspiracy that works to protect transhumanity from “existential threats” (risks to transhumanity’s continued existence). Flatlander Someone born or used to living on a planet or moon with gravity. Flat (Morph)|Flats Baseline humans (not genetically modified). Also called norms. Flexbot A shape-changing synthmorph capable of joining together with other flexbots in a modular fashion to create larger shapes. Forking Copying an ego. Not all forks are full copies. AKA backups. Forknapping Kidnapping a backup or fork. FTL Faster-Than-Light. Fury (Morph)|Fury A transhuman combat morph. G Gatecrashers Explorers who take their chances using a Pandora gate to go somewhere previously unexplored. Genehacker Someone who manipulates genetic code to create genetic modifications or even new life. Ghost (Morph)|Ghost A transhuman combat morph optimized for stealth and infiltration. Ghost-riding The act of carrying an infomorph in a special implant module inside your head. Greeks Trojan asteroids or moons that share the same orbit as a larger planet or moon, but are 60 degrees ahead in the orbit at the L4 Lagrange point. The term Greeks normally refers to the asteroids orbiting around Jupiter’s L4 point. See also “Trojans.” H Habtech A habitat technician. Hibernoid A transhuman modified for hibernation, for extensive travel in space. I Iceteroid An asteroid made from mostly ice rather than rock or metals. Iktomi The name given to the mysterious alien race whose relics have been found beyond the Pandora gates. Indentures Indentured servants who have contracted their labor to a hypercorp or other authority, usually in exchange for a morph. Infolife Artificial general intelligences and seed AIs. Infomorph A digitized ego; a virtual body. Also known as datamorphs, uploads, backups. Infugee “Infomorph refugee,” or someone who left everything behind on Earth during the Fall — even their own body. Isolates Those who live in isolated communities far outside the system (in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud). AKA outsters, fringers. J Jamming The act of “becoming” a teleoperated drone thanks to XP technology. Also sometimes applied to accesing the real-time XP feed from lifeloggers and others. K Kuiper Belt A region of space extending from Neptune’s orbit out to about 55 AU, lightly populated with asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets. L Lagrange Point One of five areas in respect to a small planetary body orbiting a larger one in which the gravitational forces of those two bodies are neutralized. Lagrange points are considered stable and ideal locations for habitats. Lifelog A recording of one’s entire life experience, made possible due to near-unlimited computer memory. Lost Generation In an effort to repopulate post-Fall, a generation of children were reared using forced-growth methods. The results were disastrous: many died or went insane, and the rest were stigmatized. M Main Belt The main asteroid belt, a torus ring orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Meme A viral idea. A unit of information transmitted socially that self-replicates and mutates in a manner analagous to genes. Menton (Morph)|Mentons Transhumans optimized for mental and cognitive ability. Mercurials The non-human sapient elements of the transhuman “family,” including AGIs and uplifted animals. Mesh The omnipresent wireless mesh data network. Also used as a verb (to mesh) and adjective (meshed or unmeshed). Mesh ID The unique signature attached to one’s mesh activity. Microgravity Zero-g or near weightless environments. Mist The clouds of AR data that sometimes fog up your perception/displays. Morph A physical body. AKA suit, jacket, sleeve, shell, form. Muse Personal AI helper programs. N Nanobot A nano-scale machine. Nano-Ecology Pro-tech ecological movement. Nanoswarm A mass of tiny nanobots unleashed into an environment. Neo-Avians Uplifted ravens and gray parrots. Neogenesis The creation of new life forms via genetic manipulation and biotechnology. Neo-Hominids Uplifted bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Neotenic (Morph)|Neotenics Transhumans modified to retain a child-like form. Novacrab (Morph)|Novacrab A pod created from genetically engineered spider crab stock. O Olympian (Morph)|Olympian A transhuman biomorph modified for athleticism and endurance. O’Neill Cylinder A soda-can shaped habitat, spun for gravity. Oort Cloud The spherical “cloud” of comets that surrounds the solar system out to about one light-year from the sun. P PAN Personal Area Network. The network created when you slave all of your minor personal electronics to your ecto or mesh inserts. Pandora Gates The wormhole gateways discovered after the disappearance of the TITANs. :Category:Pods|Pods Mixed biological-synthetic morphs. Pod clones are force-grown and feature cyberbrains. Also known as biobots, skinjobs, replicants. From “pod people.” Posthuman A human or transhuman individual or species that has been genetically or cognitively modified so extensively as to no longer be human (a step beyond transhuman). AKA parahuman. Prometheans A group of transhuman-friendly seed AIs that were created by the Lifeboat Project (precursors to the argonauts) years before the TITANs became selfaware and that (mostly) avoided Exsurgent infection. The Prometheans secretly back Firewall and work to defeat existential threats. Proxies Members of the Firewall internal structure. Psi Parapsychological powers acquired due to infection by the Watts-MacLeod strain of Exsurgent virus. R Reaper (Morph)|Reaper A warbot synthmorph. Reclaimers A transhuman faction that seeks to lift the interdiction and reclaim Earth. Redneck A rural Martian. See Barsoomian. AKA Reds. Re-instantiated Refugees from Earth who escaped only as bodiless infomorphs, but who have since been resleeved. Resleeving Changing bodies or downloading into a new one. Also called remorphing, reincarnation, shifting, rebirthing. Ruster (Morph)|Rusters Biomorphs optimized for life on Mars. S Scorchers Hostile programs that can damage or affect cyberbrains. Scum The nomadic faction of space punks/gypsies that travel from station to station in heavily modified barges or swarms of ships. Notorious for being a roving black market. Seed AI An AGI that is capable of recursive self-improvement, allowing it to reach god-like levels of intelligence. Sentinels Agents of Firewall. Shell A synthetic physical morph. AKA synthmorph. Simulmorph The avatar you use in VR simulspace programs. Simulspace Full-immersion virtual reality environments. Singularity A point of rapid, exponential, and recursive technological progress, beyond which the future becomes impossible to predict. Often used to refer to the ascension of seed AI to god-like levels of intelligence. Singularity Seeker People who pursue relics and evidence of the TITANs or other possible avenues to super-intelligence, either to learn more about it or to become part of a super-intelligence themselves. Skin A biological physical morph. AKA meat, flesh. Skinning Changing your perceived environment via augmented reality programming. Sleight A psi power. Slitheroid A snake-like robotic synthmorph. Smart Animals Partially uplifted animal species (including dogs, cats, and rats). Some other large smart animals (elephants) are nearly extinct. Spime Meshed, self-aware, location-aware devices. Splicers Humans that are genetically modified to eliminate genetic diseases and some other traits. Also known as genefixed, cleangenes, tweaks. Swarmanoid A synthetic morph composed from a swarm of tiny insect-sized robots. Sylphs Transhuman biomorphs with exotic good looks. Synthmorph Synthetic morphs. Robotic shells possessed by transhuman egos. Synths A specific type of synthmorph. Synths are standard androids/gynoids; robots that are designed to look humanoid, though they are usually noticeably not human. T Teleoperation Remote control. Titanian Someone from Titan, a moon of Saturn. TITANs The human-created, recursively improving, military seed AIs that underwent a hard-takeoff singularity and prompted the Fall. Original military designation was TITAN: Total Information Tactical Awareness Network. Torus A donut-shaped habitat, spun for gravity. Transgenic Containing genetic traits from other species. Transhuman An extensively modified human. Trojans Asteroids or moons that share the same orbit as a larger planet or moon, but follow about 60 degrees ahead or behind at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points. The term Trojans normally refers to the asteroids orbiting at Jupiter’s Lagrange points, but Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and other bodies also have Trojans. See also “Greeks.” U Uplifting Genetically transforming an animal species to sapience. V Vacworker Space laborer. Vapor A failed mind emulation or crippled fork/infomorph (from vaporware). VPNs Virtual Private Networks. Networks that operate within the mesh, usually encrypted for privacy/security. VR Virtual Reality. Imposing an artificially constructed hyper-real reality over one’s physical senses. X X-Caster Someone who transmits/sells XP recordings of their experiences. Xenomorph Alien life form. Xer As in “X-er”—someone addicted or obsessed with XP. Sometime also used to refer to people making XP. XP Experience Playback. Experiencing someone else’s sensory input (in real-time or recorded). Also called experia, sim, simsense, playback. X-Risk Existential Risk. Something that threatens the very existence of transhumanity. Z Zeroes People without wireless mesh access. Common with some indentures. Category:Setting Category:Core Book